Court Bulletin

HAMILTON, ON - Aldershot Greenhouses Ltd. pleaded guilty and has been fined $100,000 after a worker at a greenhouse operation died after falling from a ladder.

The incident took place at the company's facility at 347 5th Concession Road East in Waterdown on January 8, 2015. A worker was performing the task of watering bales of potting soil.

Each bale is about eight feet tall, wrapped in plastic and rests on a skid. To water a bale, a worker must reach the top of the bale using an eight-foot-tall ladder, install a homemade watering wand into the top of the bale and turn on a timed, metered water pump. Each bale is watered with about 100 gallons of water. When watering is completed, the worker climbs a ladder to reach the top of the bale, removes the water wand, climbs back down, moves the ladder to the next bale and repeats the process.

On the date in question, a worker was in the process of switching the wand from one bale to another. While reaching over from the first bale to the next, the worker misstepped on a ladder rung, lost balance and fell to the floor. The worker suffered head injuries and died in hospital several weeks later.

Aldershot Greenhouses Ltd. pleaded guilty to failing to provide information, instruction and supervision to a worker on how to safely water bales, and was fined $100,000 in provincial court by Justice of the Peace Stephen Lancaster on February 25, 2016 in Hamilton court.

In addition to the fine, the court imposed a 25-per-cent victim fine surcharge as required by the Provincial Offences Act. The surcharge is credited to a special provincial government fund to assist victims of crime.